Sea rise in Thatta turns farmers into fishermen

Faraz Wajid

THATTA: Muhammad Ramzan and his family of Allah Dino village in Keti Bander were involved in farming for the last two decades but due to land erosion and sea rise, they are forced to adopt the profession of fishing.

About 150 kilometres from Karachi, dwellers of Keti Bander are hit by frequent natural disasters.
Ramzan says his grandfather, being a landlord was well off, and used to grow rice and sugarcane. But now the fields have turned barren due to seawater intrusion.

According to scientific research, every year since 1990, the sea level is rising at the rate of 3.5mm, i.e. six to eight inches increase in 100 years.

Field Coordinator World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P) Ghulam Rasool Khatri tells The Nature News that besides rising of global temperatures, sea rise is also because of freshwater discharge into the oceans.

“A number of settlements have now been submerged under seawater; leading several to migrate,” adds Khatri. “Climate change has turned farmers into nomads.”

The dwellers of Allah Dino Patel village have migrated twice in the past ten years. Their houses and hopes have been submerged into the ‘cruel’ waves of sea.

Shehzadi Tunio of the WWF-P says climate change has badly affected the country’s coastal belt, and many people have been forced to migrate.

“In the last 40, over 25 settlements vanished from Keti Bunder and Kharo Chan,” she says. “Projects are needed to help communities cope with climate change.”

Many government and non-governmental organisations have put in efforts to reduce the suffering; however, because of a lack of resources, the poverty-stricken dwellers are still going through the nature’s wrath.

This article has been published in arrangement with NCEJ as part of its training in Thatta on “Reporting impacts of climate change on communities.”